An early historic bleach-decorated carnelian bead from Sumhuram (Dhofar, Oman): Personal possession or traded commodity?

The purpose of this study is to analyze the trade networks of carnelian beads during the Early Iron Age and Proto-Three Kingdoms period. In the paper, the types of carnelian beads were classified, the distribution patterns of each period and region were reviewed, and it was confirmed that there were differences in the origin and distribution by type. The carnelian beads excavated in Korea were assumed to be imported from the northern region(Mongolia/Russian Far East/Northeast China) and the southern region(South Asia/Southeast Asia) based on the geological sources, production sites, regional shapes, manufacturing techniques, distribution patterns, and historical records. And the multi-faceted beads in the southeastern region of the Korean peninsula seems to be reprocessed products of the spherical beads from South Asia/Southeast Asia. The distribution of carnelian beads in the Korean Peninsula reflects the historical situation of the time. In the Early Iron Age, northern carnelian beads flowed from northeastern China, mainly to the southwestern region. But after the establishment of Lelang(樂浪) by Han(漢), a large amount of southern carnelian beads began to flow through the trade network of China. In the late Proto-Three Kingdoms period, Lelang had been weakened, and Three Han(三韓) grew to become major consumers of the southern carnelian beads. On the other hand, in the central region of the Korean Peninsula, it seems that there was the northern carnelian bead network.

The question arises as to the nature of Parthian and Sasanian presence in south-eastern Arabia. Important is the role of the archaeological record in Oman in the early first millennium CE. The excavator has emended his chronology for late pre-Islamic Oman, de-emphasizing the evidence of radiocarbon dating. Recently in prominent places, Derek Kennet ignored and denigrated key results won from excavation and study in the 1990s. By means of the selective citing of sources, he concludes that the Samad cultural assemblage predates the first century CE.

This study presents new evidence for long-distance cultural interactions in the mid-3rd millennium BCE as reflected by the hard stone beads from Aegina-Kolonna in Greece. There, nineteen carnelian beads and one of rock crystal were discovered in a small jewellery hoard. Our detailed restudy of these beads indicates that at least fifteen beads can be linked to the craft traditions of the Indus Valley civilisation. This is demonstrated through shared morphometric proportions, stylistic types, and scanning electron microscope investigation of drill hole impressions revealing the diagnostic use of Indus-style constricted cylindrical drills. While earlier scholars have already noted an Indus link for the single “etched” or bleached carnelian bead at the site, these new data provide additional evidence for more extensive long-distance interactions between the Aegean region, Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley in the 3rd millennium BCE.

Iron Age II is considered the classical period of the Iron Age (figure: 2). This period shows sudden increase in distribution and diversification in settlement pattern, in South-eastern Arabia (Magee 1998b:49). The settlements during this period expanded to include inland (Herrmann et al. 2012), mountains (Haser in Avanzini 2010:162) and coastal sites (Mouton & Schiettecatte 2014). Settlements became more diverse to include non-residential architecture. An appearance of irrigation technology (Falaj) along with camel domestication coincides with this increase. This increase was accompanied by regional (Benoist & Mery 2012: 88) (between the varied types of settlements) and trans-regional contact (with south Arabia) and goods exchange (Magee 1999, 2004, 2005).The layout, the location, the structure and the material culture excavated from this period reflects a complex community (Magee & Thompson 2001:129) (Magee 1998b:54). This manifested in the appearance of a belief system related to both irrigation and bronze production (the snake cult) (Benoist 2007:50), specialized labour in pottery (Benoist & Mery 2012:88), metal production (Magee 1998a:114) (Nashef in Avanzini 2010:215) and administration systems (al-Tikriti 2010:240), fortification structures related to the agriculture activity (Magee 2014:237), symbolic (axe heads on the stamp seals) and prestigious goods for elites (Magee 1998b:56). This paper argues that irrigation technology was responsible for creating a social elite class. This class was responsible for cyclic production, the expansion and the diversification of settlement patterns using the domestication of the camel.The Iron Age is divided into three sub periods based on ceramic evidence from Tell Abraq: I (1200–1000 BC), II (1000–600 BC) and III (600–300 BC) (Magee 2001:345).Table 1: Brief description of the settlement patterns and economy of Iron Age I and III: Iron Age I(1300-1000BC) Iron Age III(600-300BC) Settlement Patterns Known Shimal, Tell Abraq, al- One-third reduction in number Hamriyah and possibly Kalba; of sites when compared with on the Gulf coast, and the East Iron Age II. Known sites are Coast (Fig. 1) (Potts 2001:50). Tell Abraq, Shimal, Rumeilah, Hili17, Hili 2, Nud Ziba, al- Thuqaibah, graves in the Wadi al-Qawr and Dibba oasis (Potts 2001:50). Economy A) Dependency of the Little is known about Iron Age inhabitants on fish and III. However, excavations in shellfish (Potts 1990:103-109). Thuqeibah shows that the B) Metrical and technological economy consisted of analysis suggest that pottery agriculture, stock breeding and was produced on a part-time goods exchange with the coast or occasional basis with non- (Del Cerro 2015:23) specialized labor, and that the main reason for production was to satisfy domestic needs (Magee 2005:51). Cause of decline in May be due to: May be due to:Number of sites and a) Drought conditions that a) The limitation ofeconomy. impacted water resources, archaeological surveys in 3 b) The decline of maritime some regions versus the trade which might have been intensive explorations of caused by the Mesopotamian others restrict the knowledge replacement of Omani copper about this period (Mouton & production with that from Schiettecatte 2014:45). Anatolia, b) The collapse of the Iron c) The political instability in Age II Irrigation technology the Indus Valley during Aryan (al-Tikriti 2010:240) invasion which led scholars to ((Mouton & Schiettecatte speculate that this may have 2014:45) caused further disruption, through a cultural effect, in south-eastern Arabia (Brunswig in Potts 1990: 29 and Carter 1997: 95-7).

Abstract

The provenance of early Iron Age ferrous remains from southeastern Arabia

Archaeological research at Al-Khashbah, Sultanate of Oman, conducted by the University of Tübingen, revealed a large Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BCE) site. During the intensive surface survey and excavations, several ground stone tools were found. Most of them came from the vicinity of monumental stone and mud-brick structures, so-called towers, and are clearly connected to copper-processing waste such as slag, furnace fragments and prills, i.e., droplets of molten copper. Therefore, it is assumed that these ground stone tools were used within the operational procedures of copper-processing. Interestingly, only the monumental towers from the first half of the 3rd millennium BCE, i.e., the Hafit period, feature larger quantities of ground stone tools as well as copper processing waste. Towers from the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE, i.e., the Umm an-Nar period, have none. Within the scope of this paper, the distribution of the different types of ground stone tools in Al-Khashbah as well as their find context will be presented. They are illustrated with drawings generated from 3D models created using digital photography processed with the software Agisoft Photoscan. Comparisons with other 3rd millennium BCE sites in Eastern Arabia show that there as well, copper-processing remains are often associated with ground stone tools. The overall variety of types seems to be rather homogeneous in the region.

An analysis of the structure and the mechanics of the early modern Indian Ocean trade, alternatively referred to as Asian trade, ought perhaps to start with a recognition of the simple fact that this trade transgressed the boundaries of both the Indian Ocean and Asia. Around the time that the Europeans' participation in the maritime trade of India started, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, India occupied a position of key importance in the structure of Indian Ocean trade. Of the three principal segments of this trade, the Western Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea, the first two were dominated by India. In the course of the fifteenth century, Malacca became a truly major centre of international exchange and a meeting point of traders from the East and the West.

Geologic provenience analysis of agate and carnelian beads using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS): A case study from Iron Age Cambodia and Thailand

Early studies of Indian Ocean trade during the Early Historic Period attributed its nascence to the advent of Roman merchants and traders in the western portion of the Indian Ocean.1 Indeed, Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s excavations at Arikamedu appeared to support such a hypothesis with its evidence of the dramatic transformation of ‘simple fisher-folk’ living ‘a leisurely and enterprising fashion just above subsistence level’.2 Subsequent excavations at Arikamedu in south India and Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka have demonstrated, however, that substantial levels of inter-regional trade flourished before the Roman contact.3 This fresh evidence has contributed to the overturning of established Eurocentric models that suggested Indian Ocean trade was the sole preserve of Roman traders, in which South Asia played a passive role. In its place, we now stress the presence of a pervasive tradition of trade and exchangewhich began in the Iron Age and continued to link across the Indian Ocean arena until the establishment of European maritime hegemony in the eighteenth century CE.4 Despite general acceptance of this theoretical re-orientation, much archaeological and historical focus has tended to remain on the quest for evidence of Roman contact and for the recording of the presence or absence of ‘Roman’ material. This focus has, in turn, led to the neglect of South Asian materials which have not been researched so vigorously or published so fully. This paper will focus on three wellknown but less-intensively studied ceramic forms-Arikamedu Type 10, Arikamedu Type 1 (Rouletted ware) and Torpedo Jars in order to exemplify their largely unexploited potential in reconstructing networks of trade and exchange in the Indian Ocean during the Early Historic PeriodINTRODUCTIONThe city of Anuradhapura, capital of Sri Lanka from the fifth century BCE to the eleventh century CE, has played a pivotal role in Indian Ocean trade from early island trade exchanges to international networks stretching from Egypt to China (Figure 2.1). Within this paper, the sequence of this trade is traced through the excavations at trench Anuradhapura Salgaha Watta 2 (ASW2), with specific case studies on Arikamedu Type 10, Rouletted ware and Torpedo jars detailing the evidence for local and international trade.5 It will also demonstrate that, as well as receiving luxury objects from afar, Anuradhapura played an important role in co-ordinating the sourcing and finishing of elite goods for both internal consumption as well as export. This new evidence has also demonstrated the flaws associated with uncritically accepting Eurocentric models which have stressed that Indian Ocean trade was the sole preserve of Roman traders, in which South Asia and South Asians played more passive roles.6 Instead, it is now clear that inter-regional trade wasthriving long before the appearance of Roman contact within the Indian Ocean, and that this trade continued to flourish long after it disappeared. Indeed, it was not until the sixteenth century CE, that the overwhelming technological advances of the European trading companies allowed western hegemony over this trade.

Recent research has produced an increasingly nuanced but still incomplete understanding of Neolithic through Iron Age communities in southwestern Arabia. Present evidence indicates that foraging communities in the lowland interior of Yemen adopted animal herding during the 6th millennium b.c. and irrigation farming during the 3rd millennium b.c. or possibly earlier. Survey in the Wādī Bayḥān area has identified multiple settlement discontinuities. Prehistoric structures in Wādī Ṣurbān reflect episodic occupation, probably by Bronze Age pastoralists. Geomorphological evidence for Bronze Age irrigation systems appears in large valleys; these systems continued into the Iron Age and developed in small valleys. Geomorphological and archaeological evidence suggests an occupation hiatus around 700 b.c. in some larger valleys such as Wādī Ḍurā’. Settlement discontinuities seem to have responded to abrupt climate fluctuations and to regional political history.

Abstract. The western Indian Ocean has been warming rapidly over recent decades, causing a greater number of extreme climatic events. It is therefore of paramount importance to improve our understanding of links between Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) variability, climate change and sustainability of tropical coral reef ecosystems. Here we present monthly resolved coral Sr ∕ Ca records from two different locations from Rodrigues Island (63° E, 19° S) in the south-central Indian Ocean trade wind belt. We reconstruct SST based on a linear relationship with the Sr ∕ Ca proxy with records starting from 1781 and 1945, respectively. We assess relationships between the observed long-term SST and climate fluctuations related to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Subtropical Indian Ocean Dipole Mode (SIOD) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) between 1945 and 2006, respectively. The reproducibility of the Sr ∕ Ca records is assessed as are the potential impacts of diagenesis and corallite orientation on Sr ∕ Ca–SST reconstructions. We calibrate individual robust Sr ∕ Ca records with in situ SST and various gridded SST products. The results show that the SST record from Cabri provides the first Indian Ocean coral proxy time series that records the SST signature of the PDO in the south-central Indian Ocean since 1945. We suggest that additional records from Rodrigues Island can provide excellent records of SST variations in the southern Indian Ocean trade wind belt to unravel teleconnections with the SIOD/ENSO/PDO on longer timescales.

ABSTRACTThe study of the Western Indian Ocean in the first millennium is a dynamic and exciting field, in which scholarship, especially from within the Indian Ocean region itself, is expanding rapidly. It is experiencing a period of major, but not necessarily disruptive, change, to its core questions, terminology and periodisation. This article offers an overview of the study of Roman trade with the Western Indian Ocean (sometimes termed ‘Indo-Roman studies’) from the early 2000s to the present. It examines key developments in the field, including the changing scope of analysis in terms of period, region and evidence; the impact in the field of an increasingly global focus and efforts to decolonise a subject historically deeply rooted in colonial processes; and specifically the effort to provincialise or decentre Rome in historical narratives. It then suggests directions in which the field appears to be developing and makes tentative suggestions for future work.

The Ministry of Heritage and culture generously allowed me to tender a new archaeological project. They had conducted plan excavation at important sites at Omani Dibba (large Bronze Age corridor tombs) and at al-Saffah (Early Iron Age (EIA) foundry site), the latter some 45 km east of the border to Abu Dhabi emirate in Mintiqah al-Dhahirah. The object of my visit (16.‒20.04.2014) was to do first recording of the fascinating finds from al-Saffah. Of the numerous (667 registered) finds mostly in copper alloy from that site, I photographed, drew, and otherwise recorded 143, in order to judge the amount of time needed for the cataloguing. By May 2015, some 220 artefacts had been documented. Maurizio Tosi (Muscat) and Francesco Genchi (Bari) kindly provided me the site report and a first database of the finds. In 2014 the ministry had one third of the metal finds restored, which now can be drawn, photographed and otherwise studied. The site is of EIA date, to judge from the finds and radiocarbon dates. I took the opportunity together with ministry inspectors to visit the undocumented Samad Late Iron Age (LIA) settlement sites of al-ʿAtqiyah/J. Ṣunsunah and al-ʿAtqiyah/J. Nejd. Such are quite rare. A further visit from 03.‒13.12.2014 allowed a long-desired opportunity to begin documenting other such sites at Ibrāʾ I0052; Wadi Maḥram/Qariyat al-Saiḥ; al-Moyassar M34, M4304; Samad al-Shān S01; S07, SX; Ṭīwī/al-Jurayf tw0002. Four selected LIA sites are described. Negar Abdali (Heidelberg) recorded key al-Saffah artefacts with a 3D scanner curated in the new National Museum in Muscat. This project goes by the name of the Heidelberg University ‒ Ministry of Heritage and Culture Virtual Museum Project. Most interesting is the occurrence of the finds in what appears to be a single-period context. Never before have we had a context like this one. Artefacts of EIA and a few of pre EIA date evidently were taken as a source for metal production. Numerous new artefact classes occurred. Moreover, a large selection of miniature votive weapons occurred.

Chronology is the backbone of all history, as the flow of time is identical in scholarly and scientific fields, even in the Near East. Radiocarbon dating can provide an essential and unifying chronological basis across disciplines, despite precision limitations. This issue presents exciting new 14C developments in archaeological and environmental contexts, ranging from Proto-Neolithic cultures to historic earthquakes along the Dead Sea. Dark periods devoid of settlement in the deserts of the southern Levant seem to disappear with 14C dating. Significant new findings collectively indicate the need for major chronological revisions in the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE in Egypt and the Levant. The implications for the 2nd millennium BCE are not yet established, but the use of 14C dating in the Iron Age is finally beginning to focus on current controversies. The chronological way forward for Dynastic Egypt and the Levantine Bronze and Iron Ages is a multi-disciplinary approach based on detailed high-quality 14C series as a unifying time foundation to anchor archaeological, textual, and astronomical data.